A batch of smuggled foreign garbage was burned by environmentally sound technology on Monday in east China's Fujian Province.

The burnt garbage is part of more than 300 tons of rubbish clothing seized in January by Fujian police.

According to sea police officials, more than 300 tons of the rubbish originated in Japan and South Korea and was shipped from Hong Kong for sale on the Chinese mainland. All the seized garbage will be disposed of in the next two months.

This is the first time the province has disposed of smuggled solid garbage in this environmentally friendly way.

The green-burning technology causes little pollution, said Lin Demao, director with the factory where the garbage was destroyed.

“However, the disposal technology is costly,” Lin said.

It takes about 1,000 yuan (US$120) to dispose of a ton of solid garbage. And the factory is the only one available to deal with solid garbage in the province.

Because of the high cost and limited capacity of current garbage-burning technology, the local environmental protection authority has called for setting up a special fund to offer strong financial support for such garbage disposal.

(China Daily September 29, 2004)